May 25, 2016
Today, the City of Toronto announced that 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) has selected Toronto to join the 100RC Network, a global community of cities working to build urban resilience. Through the Network, Toronto will gain access to tools, funding, resources and technical expertise that will help the city build resilience to physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century.
“Toronto's selection to join 100 Resilient Cities is an honour that recognizes our leadership and gives us tools and resources to improve our resilience now and for generations to come," said Mayor Tory. "As a member of 100 Resilient Cities, we will work with leaders in the private, government and non-profit sectors to respond to the resilience challenges ahead. In Toronto, improving our resilience includes retrofitting aging infrastructure to be energy efficient, building transit to encourage all modes of transportation, and preparing for potential impacts of extreme weather such as flooding and ice storms.”
“We are proud to welcome Toronto to 100 Resilient Cities,” said 100RC President Michael Berkowitz. “We selected Toronto because of its leaders’ commitment to resilience building and the innovative and proactive way they’ve been thinking about the challenges the city faces. We’re excited to get to work.”
As part of the 100RC Network, Toronto will be eligible to receive grant funding to hire a Chief Resilience Officer, who will lead the city-wide resilience-building process and engage stakeholders from across government agencies, public and private sectors, and various communities to incorporate diverse perspectives and knowledge. Toronto will also receive technical support to develop a Resilience Strategy that reflects the city’s distinct needs, and the support and services needed to work towards implementing that strategy, as well as access to a variety of 100RC Platform Partners in the private, public, academic, government, and non-profit sectors.
Partners offer tools and services to the 100 Resilient Cities valued at over $200 million USD at no direct cost, in areas such as innovative finance, technology, infrastructure, land use, and community and social resilience. Member cities will be linked together in a global network so they can learn from each other’s challenges and successes.
Toronto is one of 37 cities selected in this final round, from more than 325 applicants, to join the 100 Resilient Cities global network of cities. More information is available at
http://ow.ly/zAeK300zt9l.
About 100 Resilient Cities—Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation
100 Resilient Cities - Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) helps cities around the world become more resilient to social, economic, and physical challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. 100RC provides this assistance through: funding for a Chief Resilience Officer in each of our cities who will lead the resilience efforts; resources for drafting a Resilience Strategy; access to private sector, public sector, academic, and NGO resilience tools; and membership in a global network of peer cities to share best practices and challenges. For more information, visit:
http://www.100ResilientCities.org.
Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit
http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.
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Media contacts:
Valerie Cassells, Strategic Communications, 416-660-1712, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Keerthana Kamalavasan, Office of the Mayor, 647-460-7507, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Andrew Bonner, 100 Resilient Cities, 202-696-8925, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
